Eugene Weekly : Calendar : 12.23.10

Deadline for Calendar and Art in the Galleries submissions are noon on Thursday, a week before the issue that covers your event. Send an e-mail with event, date, time, location and cost to attend to cal@eugeneweekly.com

While hardly the stylized stuff of cinema verite, the films of Frank Capra are timeless documents that capture eternal truths about the American character and the society that shapes it. Few directors have possessed such a sharp eye for what lies beneath the American Dream — the hopes, the fears, the hypocrisies, the triumphs — and, in film after film, Capra was able to tear apart and reconstitute our essential myths without cynicism or despair. Which brings us to It’s a Wonderful Life, Capra’s 1946 classic that is essential holiday viewing, and the Christmas movie par excellence. Starring one of the greatest actors of all time, Jimmy Stewart, this seemingly simple parable of good intentions and carpe diem is actually a rather dark and biting critique of capitalism run amok in a country where the uber-wealthy will go to any length to monopolize and amass everything in sight while shamelessly ghettoizing the poor. Is this starting to sound strangely familiar? As George Bailey, Stewart (above) is that legendary good man who is so hard to find, a big-hearted dreamer who sacrifices his grand plans to help everyone around him. When the evil landowner Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) screws him royally, poor George decides to jump off a bridge to save his family from ruin. What prevents his suicide, in the end, is the intervention of a dim-witted angel, but what really saves George is the karma-like kindness of all the folks he’s helped. It sounds corny, but that’s what the holiday season is about: love, fellowship, selflessness and giving. So listen for the sound of that’s chiming bell, and be blessed. It’s a Wonderful Life plays through Dec. 26 at the Bijou; for times, visit www.bijou-cinemas.com

The Lane County Board of Commissioners is seeking applications from citizens interested in serving on the Lane County Animal Services Advisory Committee, which meets monthly; application deadline is 5pm Friday, Jan. 7, 2011; applications are available on line at www.lanecounty.org; for further information, call 682-4203.

French Conversation gatherings take place 12:30-2:30pm every Wednesday; for details, call 937-2304.

With Oregon coming Jan. 8 to the BCS Championship game in Phoenix, a Ducks fan wants those traveling south for the game to know about a sports bar in Scottsdale that is “100 percent an Oregon bar” called the Well Bar and owned by Ducks alum John Marston; if you have any questions or requests, send an email to gary@cruzwood.com or woody@cruzwood.com, or call 602-751-5180 or 480-766-1221.

The Salem Multicultural Institute is inviting young area artists to design artwork for the 2011 World Beat Festival; the theme is the people and cultures of Mexico; entrants must be students in grades K-12 or home school students; the deadline is March 1, 2011; entry forms available at www.WorldBeatFestival.org

Advance tickets are available for three McDonald Theatre concerts: Drive-By Truckers, scheduled for March 9, 2011; Beats Antique; scheduled for March 31, 2011; and Dark Star Orchestra, scheduled for April 2, 2011; for more information, visit www.mcdonaldtheatre.com or go online at Ticketswest.

Travel Lane County recently released its first edition of the Eugene, Cascades & Coast Adventure Guide; to access the online version or download a PDF of the printable guide, go to www.travellanecounty.org; for further information, call Travel Lane County at 484-5307.

The Divine Cupcake in Eugene will be having a $1,000 giveaway to the non-pro€t organization that brings in the most “votes” at their cafe during the event; this event will take place between Jan. 5 and March 4, 2011; all registered 501(c)3 non-pro€t companies are eligible for this contest; to sign up, visit www.divinecupcake.com/nonprofit; for further information, visit the web site or call 543-5757.

The Oregon State Hospital, where One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was filmed, will be closing (and demolishing) the old, dilapidated hospital and sending patients to a new one next door. They are in the process of cataloguing artifacts from the old hospital as well as figuring out a way to organize and memorialize more than 2,500 canisters containing the cremains of past patients which had been stored in a shed (many were damaged by water); the Oregon Arts Commission is offering $500,000 to any artist working in any media (sculpture, painting, etc.) to take part in the Oregon State Hospital Replacement Project by creating a memorial project to honor past patients, especially those who died at the hospital, many of whose cremains are still unclaimed; the deadline for art proposals is Monday, Dec. 27; for more information, visit www.oregonartscommission.org